Within Mount St Helens
by CupcakeFlake
Summary: I looked at Percy. Really looked. He was nervous. The look in his eyes told me that much. He was afraid that I would say no. That I would punch him. And some part of me really wanted to, for even suggesting I leave him here. - A scene from BoL from Annabeth's POV. Oneshot.


**Well, here's another fanfiction for you. I figured it was about time I returned to PJO...especially since I deleted the last two fics I started...yeah...**

 **So yeah. Oneshot. You'll recognize the scene.**

 **Disclaimer: Apollo has insisted I make my disclaimer in haiku format.**

 _ **I don't own Percy**_

 _ **Or the familiar stuff**_

 _ **I am so awesome**_

o0o—

"We'll never be able to sneak up on them," said Percy.

I wasn't looking at him. My eyes were trained on the dark creatures running around the forge. I could hear their cackles, and their voices, but they were too far away for me to hear what they were saying. It was all an indistinct blur. I couldn't even see what they looked like.

The metal spider clinked around the floor almost impatiently. I swallowed up my nerve—it wasn't a real spider—and picked it up and slipped it into my pocket. If I was going to go through with this, I couldn't afford to have a robotic arachnid making a ruckus. It would give me away.

Still not looking at Percy, I slipped out my Yankees cap. "I can. Wait here."

Out if the corner of my eye, I could see Percy wear an indignant face. "Hold it!" he shouted.

I tugged the cap over my head and allowed myself a small smirk. Percy Jackson _would_ object. He hated being left out. He would deny it, of course, but whenever we were on a quest, he constantly strived to be in the center of the action. It was one of the things I liked so much about him.

Before Percy could have the chance to do something stupid—like, say, follow me or call out my name—I crept away, making sure to make as little noise as possible. Whatever these creatures were, I could bet that they had a good sense of hearing. Monsters tend to do that.

As I snuck across the metal bridge, though, feet causing a faint pounding sound with each step, I realized that it wasn't such a big deal if I made noise. The closer I got to the platform, the louder it got. Creatures roared and shrieked. Hammers slammed against metal. Machines whirred. And footsteps much louder than mine filled the air. It was deafening.

I studied my surroundings. This workshop wasn't half bad. I could see the potential in it. The scalding heat was perfect for building deadly weapons. It was ideal for Hephaestus, and whatever monsters had inhabited it.

It reminded me of the Hephaestus cabin back at camp. It hadn't been my favorite place to hang, with all the noise and the grunt and the putrid smells, but I could appreciate the work being done. Many of the inventions—particularly Beckendorf's—were ingenious. In my free time, I sometimes stopped by to study the mechanical and engineering complexities. It was fascinating.

Percy, of course, thought I was crazy.

At the thought of him, I risked a glance behind me. I surveyed the area, but there was no sign of him. I bit my lip, allowing a smidgen of nervousness to creep through me. It wasn't that I didn't trust him; Zeus knows how much I did. But I couldn't help but worry. Despite his constant denial, Percy had a talent for getting into trouble.

The edges of my lips twitched into a faint smile.

I spun around and continued my trek. Percy would be fine. He probably just found some other lead.

I stepped across a pipe, and suddenly a blast of smoke puffed out at me. The black fumes clogged my throat and seared my eyes. I gagged, hands pressed against my neck. My cap hadn't blown off my head, thank the gods, but I still grimaced. Suddenly the heat and the noise and the stench at the Hephaestus cabin seemed like nirvana.

My lungs squeezed, but I wasn't suffocating in the smoke any more. I wiped a bead of sweat off my forehead, but it was no use. My face was coated in ashy sweat. After a deep breath, I continued toward the platform.

Through the hissing steam and the fumes, I could just barely make out the activity. The creatures were still too obscure to identify, but their project was a little clearer.

There was a cauldron, black and caked in grime, and inside, a deep red liquid was boiling and spurting violently. The creatures were dipping something in it, and it sizzled. I winced. _Blood._ That had to be what was in the cauldrons.

The bridge shook, and the immense bowl of lava underneath me stirred.

I knew the legends, of course. Many infamous weapons had been forged in volcanoes and cooled in blood. But in no way did that stop me from feeling the need to hurl.

One of the creatures grunted, and by now I was close enough to catch snippets of the conversation.

"—too hot—"

"—boiling the blood—"

"—need another vat—"

"—tried to fuse the metals—"

I blinked. _Fuse the metals?_ I racked my brain, trying to think. What type of weapon would require the fusion of two different metals? And what types of metals were they talking about? Celestial bronze? And what else?

The lava below me gurgled.

I gritted my teeth. My heart was racing now in the heat. I couldn't concentrate. This was bad. I got closer.

"—and the fusion—"

Again. They were fusing something together. But what were they making? A sword? An axe? A shield? Or was it some sort of device, like a magical net or an automaton?

"Annabeth!"

I spun around and the sound of my voice, bewilderment taking over me. There was Percy, running in my direction. His face was red with heat and his hair was stuck to his face with sweat. Right when he was about to charge past me, out of breath, I slammed my hand across him mouth and shoved him aside.

"Shhh!" I did a double take, to see if any of the creatures had noticed. They had stopped their actions and were now poking their heads around in curiosity. They had heard something, all right. I wrestled Percy behind a cauldron and shot him a glare before I remembered that I was invisible and couldn't see me expression. Instead, I muttered, "You want to get us killed?"

His hand stretched up, touching the side of my face, right beneath my ear. My skin tingled, but in an instant, his hand had moved upwards, feeling my head. When he found my cap, he tugged it off and his eyes met mine.

I scowled, trying to cover up the blush that was creeping up my face. We were close. Really close. It was a good thing the heat had already turned our faces red.

So I shot him my best angry look. "Percy, what is your problem?" Seriously. Who just streaks across a monster lair, screaming—

 _Oh, no._

Percy confirmed my suspicions. "We're going to have company! I ran into this monster orientation class, where these little sea monsters—telkhines, I think they said—were watching a video and learning how to be evil. I stopped them, but it won't be long before they're after me again."

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it earlier. "So that's what they are," I murmured, more to my own benefit than anything else. "Telkhines. I should have known" My brain was whirring, connecting the dots, trying to process this new information. Then I glanced at Percy again, who was wearing a near-crazed look on his face. "And they're building...Well, look."

I gestured over the cauldron, and we both snuck peeks over. The telkhines had forgotten about the strange noises we had made, and were engrossed in their duties again.

They had long since taken the item out of the blood cauldron, and I could see clearly now that it was a blade. One side of it glowed a faint brozen color, and the other shined silvery. The monsters were hammering at it, shaping the softened metal into a refined shape.

"The blade is almost complete. It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals."

"Aye. It shall be even sharper than before."

 _Is it a sword?_

"What _is_ that?" Percy whispered to me. I could feel his breath against my chin.

I shook my head gently, trying to swallow the knot of anxiety weeding through my stomach. "They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder—"

"They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon," said Percy abruptly. I glanced sideways at him, but his eyes were fixed on the cauldron below which was now being refilled with chilled blood. "And they...they said they made my father's trident."

My expression softened, but he still wasn't looking. I had to fight the urge to rest my hand on his shoulder. "The telkhines betrayed the gods." My mind raced back to all the legends about telkhines. They had been loyal, once, building things for the gods just like the Cyclopes. But that all changed in the old days. "They were practicing dark magic. I don't know what exactly," I said, glancing at the telkhines. The cauldron was nearly overflowing now with the thick red fluid. I was starting to get an idea of what type of magic they were up to. "But Zeus banished them to Tartarus."

"With Kronos."

I studied his expression carefully, trying to see if he was still upset about the trident. But between the thick smoke, and his ash-covered face, it was hard to decipher his expression.

Then he looked at me, and I realized that I hadn't actually responded yet. So I gave him a quick nod, then glanced down at the vat of blood. "We have to get out—"

There was a loud crashing sound, and our heads snapped around to see. A door was flying through the air, before it crashed into a wall and shattered. On the other end, telkhines were pouring and scramming out the now clear doorway. They were much smaller than the telkhines in front of us, making the weapons. I figured they were the orientation class Percy had mentioned.

I exchanged looks with Percy. His eyes were widening, and he spun to me, looking frantic. "Put your cap back on! Get out!"

"What? No!" Last I had checked, the cap could only hide one of us. "I'm not leaving you!"

"I've got a plan," he said, looking at me. His voice wavered at first, making me swallow in anxiety, but then it hardened. His face grew serious, too. "I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider—maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

His face projected a look of confidence, but one glimpse in his eyes and I realized how scared he was.

And I knew Percy. He could distract them, but with all the telkhines and lava and fire and everything else, it would only take so long before his luck ran out.

All of this ran through my head in a millisecond. "But you'll be killed!" My voice squeaked out the last syllable, and I could feel the web of fear strangle me from inside.

"I'll be fine." His voice was softer now, and my breath caught in my throat. "Besides, we've got no choice."

I could feel my own expression hardening. My mind spun in a million directions. No. He was wrong. There had to be another solution. We couldn't go down because of the volcano. There was nowhere to go up. The bridge only went two ways, and both would lead us straight to the telkhines. There was no safe hiding place. Only one of us could turn invisible. We had no reinforcements. I had the spider, but what good could it do?

And any second now, the telkhine class would spot us. And once they did, everyone would attack us.

There was no way we could take all of them down. I only had a dagger. Percy only had a sword. And there was no water source nearby for him to manipulate.

Despitpe the growing heat of the lava below us, the air around me suddenly felt cold.

He was right.

There was no other choice.

Someone had to stay. To find Hephasestus and finsih the quest.

I looked at Percy again. Really looked. His face was covered in soot and grime and ash. He was bleeding. But despite all of that, he didn't look scared anymore. He looked determined. He looked like a hero.

He looked at me.

He was nervous. The look in his eyes told me that much. He was afraid that I would say no. That I would punch him. And some part of me really wanted to, for even suggesting I leave him here.

But...

I looked at him.

Then I leaned forward, closed my eyes, and pressed my lips against his.

I stopped feeling cold.

The kiss only lasted and instant. Every inch of me wanted to stay like this, to never move an instant. But around us, the telkhines growled. The lava simmered. The machines whirred. We only had a few seconds, if that.

So, with every ounce of my strength, I pulled away.

His face had frozen, and his eyes were wide, as if in shock. If this were any other situation, I might have laughed at the expression.

But I couldn't even bring myself to smile.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain," I said, trying my hardest not to let my voice crack. Before I could do something stupid—like cry or even kiss him again or change my mind and fight—I slipped the cap over my head.

And I ran.

My feet pounded against the floor.

Forget being quiet.

I kept running.

I stabbed a telkhine that was in my way, not even thinking.

And I kept running.

For one moment, I risked it all, and turned to look at Percy. A nagging piece in the back of my head told me this would be the last time I would ever get to look at him again.

He was still stunned, but one roar of a telkhine, and he jolted. Then he looked around and held up his sword, preparing to charge.

The telkhines howled.

My heart slammed against my chance.

They ran after Percy.

I foguth back a tear.

And I ran.

One foot after another.

My chest was heaving.

I couldn't think.

Smoke threw itself at me.

I kept running.

And I ran.

I was exhausted.

I ran.

Some lava nearly singed me.

I couldn't care.

A tear sputtered out of my eye despite myself.

I ran.

My feet hurt as they slammed against the rock floor.

I could feel the excruciating heat a from the flames and cauldrons that I passed.

I kept running.

Sime part of me told me I was being a coward. I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. I shouldn't be running like a coward. I should be thinking up a clever strategy to destroy the telkhines and get the both of us out safely. That's what I was supposed to do. That's whatI was trained to do.

But there was no time. No solution.

It was all up to Percy.

I kept running.

Finally, I reached my hand into my pocket and felt around for a moment. _Where it it?_ When my hand touched the small piece of metal, I shivered. My fingers slid around it and pulled it out. Then I threw the device down.

It turned into a spider and crawled off.

Back to Hephaestus.

I ran after it.

Aftrer what felt like an eternity, I reached the open air. The sky. Fresh, clean air. No demons. No monsters. Just me, the spider, and the world.

I looked down at the spider, and I let out a small laugh. I made it out. And looking down at the little tin creature, I couldn't even remember why I was so scared of it in the first place. The Arachne story? This wasn't even a real spider.

And I laughed again.

I made it out.

The spider led me to the next Labyrinth opening and I went inside.

I was safe.

That was when the mountain exploded.

Rock. Ash. Lava. Dirt. And heat. Bright, searing, dangrous heat. Even from behind the door I could feel the earth shake.

And the noise.

My heart pounded in my chest.

The noise. The crashing, and the booming, and the sound of thunder. When it all died down, all that was left was

Silence.

I opened the door.

And there was the mountain, spewing lava and rubble. The entire thing...the forges, the area...it was completely obliterated.

With Percy inside it.

My breath caught in my throat.

 _Percy._


End file.
